BCCI Demotes Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli to Grade B in New Central Contract List

New Delhi. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has delivered a major blow to former captains Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. In the central contract list for the 2025-26 season released on Monday, both star players have been demoted from the 'A+' grade directly to 'Grade B'.

A major reshuffle in player rankings occurred because the BCCI abolished the top 'A+' grade this time. Among Rohit, Virat, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravindra Jadeja, who were in the 'A+' grade last year, Bumrah and Jadeja have been placed in 'Grade A'. Test and ODI captain Shubman Gill remains in 'Grade A'.

The main reason cited for demoting Rohit and Kohli to lower grades is the limited formats they play. Both legendary players are currently playing only One Day Internationals. They retired from T20 Internationals after winning the T20 World Cup last year and have also bid farewell to Test cricket as of May 2024.

Under the new contract, the BCCI has divided players into three grades: A, B, and C. A total of 30 male players are included in the contract, with 3 players in Grade A, 11 in Grade B, and 17 in Grade C.

T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav along with 10 other players are included in 'Grade B'. KL Rahul, Mohammed Siraj, Hardik Pandya, and Rishabh Pant, who were in Grade A last year, have also been demoted to Grade B. Kuldeep Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Washington Sundar, and Shreyas Iyer have also secured a place in Grade B.

In 'Grade C', filled with young players, 17 players including Tilak Varma and Rinku Singh have been placed. This grade includes Shivam Dube, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Dhruv Jurel, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Abhishek Sharma, Sai Sudharsan, Ravi Bishnoi, and Ruturaj Gaikwad.

All-rounder Axar Patel has been demoted to Grade C, while experienced bowler Mohammed Shami has been left out of the contract list entirely.

The board has also included 21 players in the central contract for women. For the women, captain Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, and Deepti Sharma have managed to secure a spot in 'Grade A'.

In Grade B are Renuka Thakur, Shafali Verma, Richa Ghosh, and Sneh Rana, while Grade C includes names like Kranti Gawde and Kashvee Gautam, who performed excellently in domestic cricket.

Although the BCCI has unveiled the new grading model, it has not yet disclosed anything about the salary structure. Although there was talk of a change in the salary structure a few days ago, no official announcement has been made regarding this. Last year, A+ grade players used to receive 7 crore, Grade A 5 crore, Grade B 3 crore, and Grade C 1 crore INR annually.